I recently acquired a "free to good home" Hobie 16. The former owner had it parked since 2001, but had cared for it up to then. He had a good fitted canvas cover on it the whole time and a cheap blue tarp as well, until that dissolved from the elements.

I cleaned it up (pine tar and pine needles) and inspected the rigging. I cleaned up the lines and dry-sailed her a couple of times in my yard. I have been on a sailboat only twice before and years ago, but have read about sailing forever. The tramp is in good shape, although the webbing for footholds has dissolved. The sails are in great shape.

Monday, my wife and I took her out. It took about an hour to get her all rigged, but I think we'll be able to improve on that time. The wind was whipping along pretty well, and I was a bit leery of biting off more than I can chew, but what the heck....

I've been lurking on this list for a while and have soaked up the sailing tips and read the sticky info about sailing a cat. I noted the idea about putting the mast up, launching, then pulling her over to the beach to put the sails up. This went pretty smoothly. My wife hopped aboard, I pushed the cat out to waist-deep water, hopped aboard and pulled the sails in. We were sailing!

We sailed out to the middle of the lake and tried to tack. We got caught in irons and it took me a while to hit on the combo of pulling the boom in by hand and using the rudders to turn us around and get sailing again. We sailed back and did a great jibe; smooth, switched sides smoothly, and the sails reset at the correct angle. After getting going fast enough to slightly lift the windward hull, we tried tacking again, this one going smoothly because we got our speed up and knew to backwind the sail to help us turn.

My wife and I are hooked, I'm afraid. Sailing is to boating what fly fishing is to bait fishing: It requires constant attention and activity and is a more elegant way to go. The guy who gave me the boat said it well: "Sailing is like chess; you can learn in an afternoon and spend the rest of your life trying to get good at it."

Today, based on what I've read here and my tiny bit of experience, I drilled the lip of the hull near the rudder and rigged welded rings to attach the Easy Rite that came with the boat. On our maiden voyage, I'd tied it around the outside of the pylons, and the knot bouncing in the wake right behind the tramp was irritating. Also, I added miniblocks to hold new trapeze bungees away from the carpeted tramp edge.

Of course, I have newly emerging questions:1- The boom has a boom vang that I can't see a use for; may I safely drill out those rivets and remove it?2- The battens have been under tension from the same lines for over a decade. How important is it to replace those lines and re-tension? My skills aren't such that I would notice if the lines were at the wrong tension unless there was a big difference.3- Do Hobie-ists worry about an anchor or a painter? My wife was asking about anchoring out a bit from shore to sun and swim, and I rigged a painter to help pull up on the beach after launching. Do these items violate unwritten Hobie rules?

Batten's being under tension did more to stretch the sail than I would think damage that line.. If the line is is good shape it wouldn't be the first thing I would change..

I wouldn't bother with a painter or anchor.. There isn't a good place to stow an anchor, and I don't use a dock so I don't have a need for a painter.. Pulling an old boat up on the beach is pretty easy to do from the Dolphin striker..

For a swim.. Once you are certain your mast is sealed and the boat doesn't take on lots of water what I do when the winds are light and I want to swim is simply capsize the boat.. This leaves a hull in the air which makes for a nice dive platform. If the winds are up you won't have a need to swim ... and in those situations don't let go of the boat.. It will drift away fast...

My new to me '84 H16 came with both a line attached to the dolphin striker and an anchor. We've never pulled out the anchor, but we've used the line quite a bit as we're trailer sailing and launching from docks. We could certainly make do without, but it's helpful to tie it down and go park the car (as long as it won't get beaten against the dock).

I have examined the battens and now see that they were not under tension. The string was in the groove, caught on the end knot. The strings appear to have wear spots an inch or two down from the knot. Am I correct in thinking I should pull those batten strings tight until the batten bows slightly before sailing? I saw this demonstrated on a YouTube Hobie race prep video. I don't plan to race anytime soon, but those battens should be under tension when sailing, right?

Battens should be under tension when sailing, you are correct. When the sail is rigged and a moderate amount of downhaul is pulled on, you don't want to see any vertical wrinkles running along the leading edge of the sail or along the batten pockets. Pull on enough tension to put a slight bow into the battens. Over-tensioning the battens will make hoisting the sail more difficult.

If the sail is new or in decent shape, it's a good idea to release the tension on the batten tie lines after sailing so you don't stretch out the sail fabric which will prematurely age the sail. If you've got an old, tired sail, then you can just leave the battens tensioned and save yourself a minute or two of setup time. Release tension at the end of the season.

I bought new sails recently and leave my battens loose after each sail. As stated above, that tension damages the sail over time, something I read on another thread here. I also read that the tension does not make much difference in the speed of the boat (reference: Hobie 16 Sailing Guide by Gavin Colby). Maybe this is true or not but I went out in good wind, forgot to re-tension the battens, but the boat really flew.

Also, I have always been taught to be careful about tying anything to the dolphin striker. It is not meant to take the load of pulling the boat forward (or dragging kids under the tramp in the water). Only tie around the cross bar at the mast. In fact, when looking at used boats, I observed some that were bent forward.